My first post....

Hello Kitchen-Lovers!

A toast to my New Year's Resolution! I am challenging myself to fifty-two new recipes for a new year of fifty-two weeks!

Last week I tried "her" famous Bouef Bourguignon. It was scrumptious if I do say so myself! It took me 7 1/2 hours to make it - of course, I am cooking with two little ones (15 month old twins) helping - so everything takes longer! My mother gave me a first edition "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" and I thought that it was high time I tried a recipe. Having just watched my stocking-stuffer present from the hubby of "Julie & Julia", I decided to make the featured Beef Stew (NUMBER 1).

First off, my HEB does not sell bacon on the rind, which if you are trying to make one of "her" recipes, is a bit difficult. So, I settled with Hormel Black Label (which happened to be on sale at HEB, buy one get one). It seemed to work just fine. I used a beautiful Christmas gift, a red Le Crueset Rissotto pot, and dove into page 315. After patting dry the meat, peeling and slicing the carrot and onion, I was ready to go! I tried a new wine, "Kitchen Sink" -- a taste for the Bouef Bourguignon and a taste for the chef. Beef stock, tomato paste, garlic, thyme from our herb garden, bay leaf, and the almighty non-rind bacon. It was off to the oven. I do have to say that there is something scary about putting a $150 pot in the oven - the thoughts cross your mind... is it going to melt? Four hours later, the smell was to die for! "She" knew how to do it - she took a nuevo-cook and turned her into a chef! I laid the stew on a light bed of wild rice... mmmmm....


Well.... that was last week... here is this week....

The hubby and I took a trip to Costco on Saturday night, I guess that is what married couples with twins do! They had a flat of organic on the vine beefsteak tomatoes that were too deliciously red to pass. So, we took them. I thought to myself, "Hmmmm.... that would make a yummy soup"... and there it was, a cold Sunday in January (01-10-10 to be exact) and we were ready for some tomato soup!

No recipe in hand.... I started (NUMBER 2).... taking from what I learned last year... I started with a "dollup" (whatever that means) of olive oil in the base of an 8 quart stock pot. While it heated, I finely diced one-half of an onion and tossed it in. The sound and smell are wonderful! Then back to the chopping block to slice a peeled carrot. Into the mix it goes. In the meantime, I boiled a pot of water to help remove the skin of the tomatos (I learned this past year while making baby food for the twins that it is much easier to remove the skin of fruits and vegetables if you boil a pot of water, put the skinned fruit or vegetable in the pot for one minute and put it in cold water. The skin comes off nicely.) I quartered the tomatoes and placed them in the stock pot. But, I needed some juice, so I added a bit of chicken stock (about two cups) enough to cover what I had in the stock pot and let it come to a boil on medium high. After it hit a boil, I reduced to low for twenty minutes. I then added chopped basil and left it on low for another ten minutes. I then used an immersion blender until the tomatoes and basil were well blended - about two minutes. Then, I added half a cup of heavy whipping cream and a stick (yes, a stick) of butter - hello yummy, goodbye waistline (of course, I had twins - so the waistline is not exactly there).

I then, walked away and played with the twins while my hubby installed a ceiling fan with my father in law (for my office - pretty nice hubby and father in law). I left the stock pot on a low simmer.

Later, we enjoyed our homemade tomato soup and a side of homemade chicken salad on crackers with a nice glass of Montes Savingnon Blanc. (If you come back to read more, you will learn we really like wines from Chile!)

In "her" words.... Bon Appetit!